From Singapore 6 to AOPS

[Ausmumof3]

If you went to AOPS after singapore 6 where did you start?  I notice some people mention transitioning after 5 and it seems like there’s some overlap with the first book and 6 but that 6 won’t have got us far enough to skip it altogether?

other options I am tossing around are the Singapore dimensions program and also one that’s available locally called New Syllabus.  I do have the option of math mammoth 7 as I already own it but it seems dumb to transition to a new program for just 1 year then have to transition to something else immediately afterward.  If you have any thoughts on any of these alternatives I’m interested in hearing them as well.  Getting any of the dimensions books here is going to be expensive.

i wouldn’t say this kid is super mathy but when I talked about which direction to go he was keen to stick with something close to Singapore style and quality and challenge level in spite of complaining bitterly about it on and off.

[SoCal_Bear]

We went to AOPS pre-algebra after SM5 and only doing BA5A and Jousting Armadillos. I actually made him to JA fwhich is really pretty easy compared to AOPS PA because I used it (for the 8 weeks) we did it as a transition to going to a math book that is nearly all text and to get some practice reading and working through a textbook. We didn't have to do JA, but I think it made the transition easier for him. He is a mathy kid and uses AOPS pretty much on his own unless he runs into some roadblocks with the challenge problems. 

Edited to Add:

Forgot that JA was super useful in getting him to show his work and to organize it neatly without also dealing with what can be pretty challenging work in AOPS. This was well worth the 8 weeks we vested in AOPS. It is absolutely critical to show your work and keep it neat and organized. Graph paper helps with this. 

One change I would make is Attached Mama's idea of doing the chapter review and challenge after you complete the next chapter. So do ch.1, skip review/challenge, go to ch. 2 up to reiew/challenge, go back to ch. 1 review/challenge, go to ch. 3, etc. I didn't adopt this approach until ch 8, but I think it is working out pretty well. 

Edited October 26, 2018 by calbear

[Arcadia]

DS13 went from SM6B standard edition to AoPS prealgebra. He finished AoPS calculus in 7th grade. DS12 skipped SM6A and 6B, and went to AoPS prealgebra.

ETA:

My husband and I used the old 1985-88 version of New Syllabus and it was boring for me. His nieces used the 2010-13 version.

Edited October 27, 2018 by Arcadia

[Ausmumof3]

1 hour ago, Arcadia said:

DS13 went from SM6B standard edition to AoPS prealgebra. He finished AoPS calculus in 7th grade. DS12 skipped SM6A and 6B, and went to AoPS prealgebra.

ETA:

My husband and I used the old 1985-88 version of New Syllabus and it was boring for me. His nieces used the 2010-13 version.

Would you say your kids were mathy kids?

mine is capable but not brilliant and is not heaps motivated.  I don’t want to push him into something that’s only for brilliant kids and make him feel dumb but I also don’t want to dumb things down too much.

 

[Arcadia]

21 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

 I don’t want to push him into something that’s only for brilliant kids and make him feel dumb but I also don’t want to dumb things down too much.

 

Does he mind wordy textbooks? While I think the Prealgebra book was worth doing for both my kids, both to slow them down temporarily and also because it has a wider scope, it is a lot more wordy and has three authors. So that can make the book feel more mish mash than the Introduction to Algebra book. If your son doesn’t like wordy textbooks as much, going straight to the Introduction to Algebra book might be better.

My DS12 didn’t feel as dumb doing AoPS books even when he was stuck and DS13 could do the  question. The AoPS forums has many kids asking for help and just saying what they found difficult. He doesn’t feel as alone in having to put in the time and effort.

DS12 actually felt more dumb when he was doing Singapore Primary Math because he does work slower than DS13 due to being a slow poke in general and he didn’t have anyone to compare to other than DS13. 

Another thing you can do is let your son do AoPS books as enrichment so that your son doesn’t feel dumb if he gets stuck and have to sleep on a problem. 

ETA:

My husband is scared of the AoPS books so he doesn’t help our kids. However he reads them when he is free and wish he had those books as enrichment when he was a kid. I was a latchkey child that frequently “camps” at the public library reference section after school so I didn’t have that fear of anything that might be hard as enrichment.

Edited October 27, 2018 by Arcadia

[Ausmumof3]

6 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

 

Does he mind wordy textbooks? While I think the Prealgebra book was worth doing for both my kids, both to slow them down temporarily and also because it has a wider scope, it is a lot more wordy and has three authors. So that can make the book feel more mish mash than the Introduction to Algebra book. If your son doesn’t like wordy textbooks as much, going straight to the Introduction to Algebra book might be better.

My DS12 didn’t feel as dumb doing AoPS books even when he was stuck and DS13 could do the  question. The AoPS forums has many kids asking for help and just saying what they found difficult. He doesn’t feel as alone in having to put in the time and effort.

DS12 actually felt more dumb when he was doing Singapore Primary Math because he does work slower than DS13 due to being a slow poke in general and he didn’t have anyone to compare to other than DS13. 

Another thing you can do is let your son do AoPS books as enrichment so that your son doesn’t feel dumb if he gets stuck and have to sleep on a problem. 

ETA:

My husband is scared of the AoPS books so he doesn’t help our kids. However he reads them when he is free and wish he had those books as enrichment when he was a kid. I was a latchkey child that frequently “camps” at the public library reference section after school so I didn’t have that fear of anything that might be hard as enrichment.

I actually have no idea about wordy textbooks as we’ve only ever used singapore which mostly uses symbols and visual aids.  

That is a good suggestion about the supplements.  I could use math mammoth but also use AOPS Prealgebra to see how it works for him and if he likes it transition to full AOPS.

I must admit I watched some of the AOPS YouTube videos and they seem to move pretty fast.  But maybe that’s just because they are at a more advanced level of problem solving.

[Arcadia]

12 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

I must admit I watched some of the AOPS YouTube videos and they seem to move pretty fast.  But maybe that’s just because they are at a more advanced level of problem solving.

 

I am guessing that Richard Rusczyk has to talk faster in the YouTube videos due to not wanting the videos to be too long. Kind of like how the guy (Hank Green) in Crash Course videos speak fast.

[SanDiegoMom]

We went from Singapore 5A/5B to Aops pre-A.  If we were to have gone straight to Algebra, I might have had my son do Singapore 6A/6B just to solidify the pre-A concepts, if he'd needed it.  And maybe do a couple of the chapters that 6A/B doesn't cover (like exponents, I think?) .  Aops really goes deep with the exponents in PreA.  But yeah, Pre-A is wordy.

My mathy kid did all the problems in Pre-A and first half of Intro (took the class for the second half).  My not so very mathy daughter is not doing the challenge problems. We are using alcumus a lot more, and on the easy setting (his was on the hard setting).  So she still feels successful even though she's not doing quite the same level.  She loves the videos. They are definitely her favorite part. 

[SoCal_Bear]

I think RR does speak that fast in real life. Or at least he did when at the event I just went to last year here in SD. 

[Ausmumof3]

One more question- did you use AOPS online book?  How does that work?  Do you have to rebuy for each student?   What happens if they shut down somehow?  Do you just lose all the maths you’ve done?  I think it’ll be better than shipping down under but just a bit apprehensive.

also we finished Singapore and trialed math mammoth 7.  I don’t think I need to worry about it not being challenging enough.  Ugh.  We had tears already!  I hate that... 

anyway I think we’ll take the last 6 weeks this year to review instead of getting a jump start.

[Arcadia]

1 hour ago, Ausmumof3 said:

One more question- did you use AOPS online book?  How does that work?  Do you have to rebuy for each student?   What happens if they shut down somehow?  

 

It is online so you need internet to read the book. You do have to buy one online book per account as you aren’t supposed to share accounts. If they shut down somehow I guess you do lose access to the online book.

I bought the book and online book bundle for my kids because we often do work at the library so it is purely for convenience. My kids prefer the softcover books over the online version. They do find it convenient to be able to flip through the online books when they are at the library when they aren’t sure of something that was covered in an earlier book. 

You can’t print from the online version which my kids find a little annoying when they wanted to scribble on the page. As in print a particular page at the library to scribble on. So they go home and scribble in the book.

[Ausmumof3]

26 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

 

It is online so you need internet to read the book. You do have to buy one online book per account as you aren’t supposed to share accounts. If they shut down somehow I guess you do lose access to the online book.

I bought the book and online book bundle for my kids because we often do work at the library so it is purely for convenience. My kids prefer the softcover books over the online version. They do find it convenient to be able to flip through the online books when they are at the library when they aren’t sure of something that was covered in an earlier book. 

You can’t print from the online version which my kids find a little annoying when they wanted to scribble on the page. As in print a particular page at the library to scribble on. So they go home and scribble in the book.

Ok thanks this is very helpful.  I think I would want the physical book as I don’t want schooling to depend on internet being available and if I have to buy the online version three times over it makes it worth buying the solution manual and paying for the shipping.  I like buying PDF books but I want them to be printable.